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Gardens & Grounds

Gari Melchers Home and Studio is situated on a ridge overlooking the falls of the Rappahannock River. The river was a major transportation route for the Native Americans in the area, and the falls were a crossroads where the Algonquian speakers of the eastern coastal plains and the Siouan speakers from the western Piedmont met. The high ridge served as a place to keep a look out while making tools such as arrows and spearheads, many of which have been found on the grounds. The Rappahannock also brought European settlers to the area; they used the water to power mills and ship their goods to Europe from the bustling harbor in Falmouth.

The central portion of the house dates to the 1790s and as the house was expanded in the mid 19th century, the gardens evolved as well. The Georgian style mansion is an elegant house for the period, and a refined garden was developed to complement it. The high location catches cooling breezes off the river and allows a view of Falmouth and the river to the southeast. On the east side of the house is "The Long Walk", a boxwood lined walk which runs north to south on a "fall" or terrace below the house. This terrace was hand dug, most likely by slave labor; an expensive garden feature that signaled to visitors the important social standing of the estate and it's owners. As part of a comprehensive restoration of the gardens by the Garden Club of Virginia, the walk was restored in 1993 by cutting back the boxwoods and rebuilding the arbors at each end, which are covered with roses each spring. The most important feature of the Long Walk, however, is the curved double stair with exquisite ironwork leading to the East Porch.

Spring Tulips

Georgian landscape design was based on symmetry and geometry, represented at Gari Melchers Home and Studio in the four parterre beds on the south lawn. Triangular beds edged in boxwood house roses, annuals and tulips. Stone benches and oak trees at the south and north of the house form the starting and ending points of an axis that runs through the house and garden.

When Gari and Corinne Melchers bought the house in 1916, it had undergone several expansions and changes. The Melchers took immediate steps to improve their "country house and acreage," and this included restoring the existing garden while adding their own touches to suit their needs and lifestyle. They added walls, gates and statuary, and built a cow barn, wooden garage with hay-loft and stone garage, all of which survive today. Stately elm trees surrounded the drive, and a stone Summer House on the south end of the garden was, and still is, a perfect spot to view the river or have afternoon tea.

Parterre bed on south lawn.
Photo: Gari Melchers Home and Studio

Corinne Melchers spent most of her time in Virginia where she busied herself with the gardens and farm. Chickens and turkeys roamed the farmyard, and two cows provided fresh milk and cream for her husband's favorite treat—ice cream. Apples, cherries and plums grew in the orchards around the house, and a vegetable garden was the source for fresh produce such as peas and asparagus. Today, volunteers from the Central Rappahannock Region Master Gardeners Association maintain a cutting garden and vegetable garden enjoyed by our visitors.

The Melchers had a wide variety of flowers at Gari Melchers Home and Studio, and in addition to perennials such as sedum, iris and peonies, bulbs such as daffodils, tulips and hyacinths make for a spectacular spring show. Cosmos, old-fashioned hollyhocks, zinnia, ageratum, geranium, verbena and cleome brighten the gardens in summer. Corinne Melchers had a large collection of roses (pdf) and these have been replanted in various places around the house. At present 28 varieties have been replanted on the property and the staff is actively searching for the roses known to have been owned by the Melchers.

In 1931, Mrs. Melchers laid out "a winding path in the grove". This path runs from the Summer House to the ice pond located at the bottom of the hill. Trees, vines and shrubs had obliterated the walk over time, and a restoration was undertaken during the winter of 2000-2001. Mrs. Melchers noted in her diary that she planted bulbs and mountain laurel in the grove, and these have been replanted. A number of other native trees and shrubs have also been added to restore native plant material and to help protect the Rappahannock watershed.

The Summer House at Belmont.
Photo: Gari Melchers Home and Studio

The fields surrounding the estate were either hayed or used as pasture for their cows. Letters and diaries refer to the "pastoral" feeling of Belmont, and it is apparent that Corinne and Gari Melchers enjoyed a close relationship with nature. Belmont, in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has undertaken a wildlife habitat restoration of part of this pastureland. In the spring of 2000 the fields were planted in warm season native grasses mixed with wildflowers, to provide food and nesting places for butterflies and birds such as turkeys, bobwhite quail, bobolink and eastern meadowlarks. A simple path, where the grass is kept short, circumnavigates the fields to allow visitors a close up experience. Both fields are easily viewed from existing paths for visitors who prefer to stay on pavement.

In 1996, The Garden Club of Virginia returned to landscape around the main entrance and Visitor Center, and in 1999 the club installed an irrigation system for the formal lawn and gardens.

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